“The Purpose of the Law”
Back to Basics: The Fundamentals • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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8 But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately.
INTRODUCTION: “What is the purpose of the Law of God?"
INTRODUCTION: “What is the purpose of the Law of God?"
When you study this particular issue, there are two great dangers that face the church:
1. LEGALISM!
1. LEGALISM!
The belief that keeping the Law and its requirements is essential for salvation and/or Christian growth!
1 You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
2 I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard?
3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh?
Obviously the Law is no good for either salvation or Christian growth!
Many Christians agree with the first (not necessary for salvation), but then with the next breath proceed to impose Law on their life for growth!
NEITHER ONE IS POSSIBLE UNDER THE LAW!
2. ANTINOMIANISM!
2. ANTINOMIANISM!
“Antinomianism” simply means, “against law.”
It is the notion that our freedom in Christ allows us to sin without facing any consequences!
13 For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.
1 What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?
These are two great dangers facing believers concerning the Law, and somewhere between these two extremes we find the PURPOSE OF THE LAW!
This morning I would like to give you five facts concerning the purpose of the law:
I. THE LAW WAS GIVEN TO ISRAEL, NOT THE CHURCH!
I. THE LAW WAS GIVEN TO ISRAEL, NOT THE CHURCH!
1 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.
8 And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?
44 This is the law Moses gave the Israelites.
45 These are the decrees, statutes, and ordinances Moses proclaimed to them after they came out of Egypt,
1 Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am proclaiming as you hear them today. Learn and follow them carefully.
2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.
3 He did not make this covenant with our ancestors, but with all of us who are alive here today.
It is very clear from these passages that the Law of God was given to Israel and NOT the Church!
There are those who believe that Israel and the Church are one-in-the-same. Therefore they apply the Law of God to the People of God in general.
That is simply NOT SO!
14 So, when Gentiles, who do not by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law.
15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them
1 So what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?
2 Considerable in every way. First, they were entrusted with the very words of God.
14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.
15 We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,”
16 and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.
“What about Galatians 3:29? Doesn't that put us under the Law?”
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.
NO!
17 My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise.
3 He did not make this covenant with our ancestors, but with all of us who are alive here today.
Abraham was not under Law either! (John 1:17)
II. THE LAW WAS A TEMPORARY AND LIMITED COVENANT!
II. THE LAW WAS A TEMPORARY AND LIMITED COVENANT!
Many believe that the Law can extend by application to believer's lives today.
They believe that by imposing a little Law it will control sin nature!
“Does that work?”
9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again
It usually gets worse!
The Law is a temporary and limited covenant! "WHY?"
A. The Law Did Not Invalidate The Promise To Abraham!
A. The Law Did Not Invalidate The Promise To Abraham!
17 My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise.
18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.
“What was the promise?”
6 just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness?
7 You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons.
8 Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you.
9 Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.
14 The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.
“How was Abraham saved?” BY FAITH!
The Law was limited in that it did not invalidate or annul God's covenant with Abraham!
B. The Law Was Only Given Until The Promised Seed Had Come!
B. The Law Was Only Given Until The Promised Seed Had Come!
19 Why, then, was the law given? It was added for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.
C. The Law Could Never Take Away Sin!
C. The Law Could Never Take Away Sin!
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,
2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering,
There's not a person here who has ever gotten rid of sin by obeying the Law!
1 Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.
2 Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
3 But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year.
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
How could anything be more clear! Law cannot even take away the consciousness of sin!
If you try to live your life by the Law, the only thing you'll accomplish is a greater awareness of your own sinfulness!
10 For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.
Righteousness through the Law is impossible!
D. The Law Could Not Give Life!
D. The Law Could Not Give Life!
21 Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law.
The Law condemns you! It cannot make you righteous. It only shows how sinful you are!
6 He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
“Letter” - is NOT a reference to the BIBLE, but the Law!
"What's the attraction of the Law?" The old sin nature loves to say, "I'm not as bad as somebody else!"
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’
13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The reason many are attracted to Law is that it makes them feel good!
E. The Law Could Not Make A Person Righteous Before God!
E. The Law Could Not Make A Person Righteous Before God!
20 For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.
Righteousness is a DECLARED position based on what God does and not what man does!
You are not MADE righteous (as many teach), you are DECLARED righteous!
This is pictured for us in the sacrificial system!
We aren't made righteous in this life at all! We won't be made righteous until the second coming of Christ!
This may come as a shock, but we are ALL still sinners!
We only have a declared position!
The righteousness that we have is based on what Jesus Christ has done--not our performance!
28 For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
16 and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.
III. THE LAW WAS DESIGNED FOR UNBELIEVERS, NOT BELIEVERS!
III. THE LAW WAS DESIGNED FOR UNBELIEVERS, NOT BELIEVERS!
8 But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately.
9 We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers,
10 for the sexually immoral and males who have sex with males, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching
11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.
Let me suggest to you three reasons why the Law is for unbelievers:
A. The Law Gives The Knowledge Of Sin!
A. The Law Gives The Knowledge Of Sin!
You have to prove a person is LOST before he/she can be saved!
20 For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.
20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more
7 What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! But, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.
8 And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.
9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again
10 and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me.
11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
B. The Law Condemns Us!
B. The Law Condemns Us!
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside,
8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?
9 For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory.
10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed.
9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again
10 and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me.
11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.
C. The Law Reveals God's Righteous Character & Standard!
C. The Law Reveals God's Righteous Character & Standard!
The Law proves conclusively to the unbeliever that he can never be good enough to deserve heaven!
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
13 Therefore, did what is good become death to me? Absolutely not! But, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin.
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
IV. THE LAW WAS FULFILLED BY JESUS CHRIST!
IV. THE LAW WAS FULFILLED BY JESUS CHRIST!
17 “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished.
19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.
Christ took every curse upon Himself!
2 He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
V. THE LAW LEADS US TO CHRIST!
V. THE LAW LEADS US TO CHRIST!
24 The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.
25 But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
5 he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
